Ole Miss declared National Historic Site

Today the Society of Professional Journalists is declaring the University of Mississippi campus a National Historic Site, honoring the reporters who covered the 1962 riot that stole the lives of two and injured hundreds. Reporter Paul Guihard was one of those casualties.

I have been asked to speak for the occasion, and here are the words I am sharing:

We gather here today for freedom. We gather here to honor it, to cherish it and to remember that the price of freedom is never free.

1962 riot on Ole Miss campus

On Sept. 30, 1962, the fires of hate spread out of control in Mississippi and on this campus. Many segregationists, including state leaders, fueled the rage that led to 30 federal marshals being shot and another 136 being injured. Forty-eight soldiers also suffered injuries. Their mission? Protecting the university’s lone African-American student James Meredith.

That night, someone fired a gun into the back of reporter Paul Guihard. His killers left him for dead, hoping to keep him from sharing the truth.

But death failed to silence the 30-year-old reporter for a French press agency. His words were still printed, including his observation that this was “the most serious constitutional crisis ever experienced by the United States since the war of secession.”

For centuries, people have killed reporters, believing that destroying one messenger will silence the rest of us. How wrong they have been. Thanks to Dan Rather and other reporters who covered this event, the truth was told about the “American insurrection” on this campus — the closest this nation has come to a second Civil War.

Paul Guihard

Today we stand two blocks from where Paul Guihard was gunned down. Today we honor him and the reporters who covered this story. Today the Society of Professional Journalists designates this campus as a National Historic Site. In so doing, we honor journalism, one of the world’s most noble professions.

Freedom of the press is never free, and we are reminded of that today. Last year, 79 reporters were killed around the world, and today Israeli reporter Anat Kam remains under house arrest after reportedly stealing and leaking military documents that showed the army assassinated wanted Palestinians in 2007 when arrests were possible.

Freedom of the press is far from a privilege granted to a fortunate few; it is a sacred right given to all Americans. Throughout the centuries, freedom of the press has helped safeguard this nation from tyranny, from repression and from those in government who scheme to keep us in the dark.

We must not let this moment pass without noting that those involved in killing Paul Guihard walked free that day. They executed this international journalist within a half mile of hundreds of lawmen, scores of other reporters and more than 2,000 students and civilians.

Somebody alive knows what happened. Somebody alive holds clues to solving this senseless murder. Somebody alive may have pulled the trigger, living since with the burden of guilt.

It is never too late to do the right thing, it is never too late to find forgiveness, and it is never, ever too late to tell the truth.

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About The Author

Jerry Mitchell, an investigative reporter for The Clarion-Ledger in Jackson, Miss., runs Journey to Justice, a blog that explores the intersection of justice and culture in this place we call the United States​. His work has helped put four Klansmen behind bars, including the assassin of NAACP leader Medgar Evers in 1963 and the man who orchestrated the Klan’s 1964 killings of three civil rights workers. His latest stories have helped lead to the arrest of serial killer suspect Felix Vail — the last known person seen with three women. Mitchell, a 2009 MacArthur fellow, is writing a book on cold cases from the civil rights era.